Day 9 - Kailua Kona, Hawaii

What a fun day it’s been. Our organized tour didn’t begin until 12:15 so it was a blissful day of sleeping in. We’ve quickly become jaded about traveling from port to port, and didn’t even bother to get up for our arrival in Kona. We came awake long enough to feel the engine stop, and then rolled over and went back to sleep. Doesn’t take long for us to feel like seasoned cruisers!

Celebrity Cruises does a lot of things very well but organizing tours and logistics for going to shore is not one of them! We heard distant announcements from various locations about where we were supposed to go for the tender to shore but nothing that we found particular useful. We finally went to the excursions desk and they set us straight on what to do to get ashore. We are parked/anchored/moored about a 1/4 mile from shore and we have to be motored in on the lifeboats (which for their purposes are called tenders). It’s a helluva process that is fascinating to watch and since we are two hard-core people watchers we were in 7th heaven.

After getting to the pier, we were finally assigned to the tour van with Wes, the driver. Poor Wes tried his best but after Albert’s magnificence from yesterday, he was a poor substitute of a tour guide. He drove us to the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park where we got to wade into the Pacific Ocean amongst the green sea turtles floating near the shore. And as a life long user of the Atlantic Ocean, I have to admit that the Pacific Ocean is so much freaking better! The water was warm and inviting and I was so wishing I had my bathing suit and could go swimming.  OMG! It was absolute bliss. The turtles were adorable but wading in the water was the highlight.

After I reluctantly left the glory of the Pacific Ocean, we got back into the van and drove to a Cloud Forest Sanctuary, a.k.a., a rain forest. Wes, the substandard tour guide, took us through a 45 minute hike of a rain forest and it was magnificent (the rain forest, not Wes). The plants and flowers were spectacular and Mum and I wished we could have used apps on our phones to identify what we were seeing. Poor Wes tried but, alas and alack, not really having much success. Note: Mum would like to come to Wes’s defense here and say that he is newly assigned to this particular tour and has a tad to learn about the details of what we saw. Kathy’s Note: Mum is a much nicer person than me.

After the rain forest trek, Wes took us to a local coffee roasting shop where the touring company must have a contract with them because otherwise I’m not sure why we stopped. I must admit the views were stunning so all was not lost for the non-coffee drinkers on the tour (moi!). After that, it was back to the pier and onto the ship which made us ever so freaking happy to be back in air conditioned bliss. Hawaii is gorgeous but seriously hot and humid. Fathom that!

After a quick respite in the cabin, it was up to the dining room and I was finally reunited with my most favorite sommelier, Sachin who immediately brought be a glass of prosecco. Sachin is my favorite for a reason. Dinner was amazing. Mum got salmon for the 5th time (not exaggerating!) and I got an Indian dish that was my favorite of the trip. We finished in time to catch the 7:00 show in the theater. It was the Hawaiian Folklore Show which comprised of Hawaiian musicians and dancers. They were very good and Mum and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

It’s been a really fun day of exploring Hawaii but we are ready for bed! It’s an early morning for us with a glassbottom boat ride of a reef tour. Could be either amazingly hokey or wonderful. Either way, we are looking forward to it.

Aloha from Hawaii 🌺